Qatar Airways increases booking fee with Avios

Frequent flyers looking to book a Qatar Airways flight with Avios on Sunday may have raised an eyebrow at the cash copayment increasing by more than double, as Qatar Airways shifts its fees from ‘sector-based’ to ‘distance-based’.

The good news is that Qatar Airways have dialled back the changes to a more tolerable level, blaming it on an ‘IT error’. The bad news is that although some short and medium-haul routes are now cheaper, all long-haul routes from Doha (including Australia, Europe and the USA) are still more expensive overall.

What’s changing with Qatar Airways redemptions

Effective immediately, Qatar Airways is increasing the non-refundable ‘Redemption Fee’ for its own award seat bookings made with Avios. At this stage, it doesn’t affect partner airlines booked with Avios.

Point Hacks has contacted Qatar Airways for more details on the new charges, including whether there will be a published table. But for now, we can see that the fees on a standard Australia-Europe Business reward have increased from around A$350 to ~A$550, one-way and per person.

Comparing previous and current booking screenshots, it appears that the fee for the Australia-Doha segment has increased by around US$110, while the fee for the Doha-Europe segment is up by around US$20.

If you were to fly Qatar Airways all the way to the USA, the fee for the Doha-US segment is now around US$160 higher than before – a painful blow, considering these are all one-way charges.

Summing up

There is still no change to the number of Avios needed for reward flights. Australia to Europe awards in Business Class remain pegged at an excellent 90,000 Avios + fees and charges – if you can find availability. But the sharp increase in this non-refundable ‘Redemption Fee’, with no notice to members, is not a consumer-friendly move.

Velocity Points bookings on Qatar Airways are not currently affected. Since the start of Qatar Airways’ partnership with Virgin Australia, carrier charges of US$25 to US$300 per flight have always applied to Velocity bookings, which are refundable if the itinerary is cancelled.